


Room To Grow

by thelabours



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, Hinata has some dumb ideas, Lactose Intolerance, M/M, Multi, Trans Male Character, shit websites that are Fake and Don't Teach You Anything Right, swimming is Dangerous pls wear floaties, there's some throwing up???not graphic dw, this is a poly ship because i can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-08 21:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10397001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelabours/pseuds/thelabours
Summary: in which Hinata has some terrible ideas





	

**Author's Note:**

> right right right so i thought,,,hey dont akaashi and mattsun have the same hair and the same resting bitch face and,,,i thought lets ship them with hinata who is literal sunshine yes 12/10 best decision ever

Gym #3 is empty, save for Hinata Shouyou, Aakashi Keiji and Matsukawa Issei.

Matsukawa, who is a great deal taller than Hinata, is trying (and excelling) at blocking Hinata’s spikes across the net. No matter how quick his quicks are, Matsukawa manages to touch (and block) them. It frustrates Hinata to no end.

“Right, let’s switch. I’ll set for Issei now.” Akaashi pants, noticing Hinata’s frustration. Even though Hinata’s skills as a blocker have improved exponentially since his high school days, it still annoys him that his spikes get blocked, and Akaashi hopes it’ll set his mind at easy if he switches tasks.

Matsukawa nods and slips under the net, holding it up to allow Hinata to go through. The get into position and Akaashi sets. Matsukawa spikes. It would’ve been a good idea if Hinata were actually able to block the spikes. Of the fourteen tosses and subsequent spikes, Hinata had been able to block one completely and managed to let his hand barely graze the ball six times. Which wasn’t enough times, if you ask him. Not for the first time he wishes he was taller.

Matsukawa looks over at him saying, “it’s OK, Shouyou, it happens to the best of us” and pats his head. Akaashi only sighs and follows Matsukawa to the water cooler.

Sighing in frustration, Hinata almost cries. Today had been a bad day in a bad week. The coach has subbed him out for a fellow first year (whose name Hinata can’t remember but he knows that he has seen him somewhere before) and this grates on his nerves because he _knows_ it's because he’s…well, because he’s _short._

Honestly, if it’s gotten to the point where his own boyfriends can’t look him in the eye to say he’s so short he’s not even on the team during practice matches, he might as well stitch himself an invisibility cloak and disappear forever. 

* * *

“Yeah, so I’m not playing in the match on Friday.” Hinata has dreaded giving the news to Kageyama because 1) they’d worked incredibly hard to get themselves scouted in their last year of high school and 2) Hinata had been looking forward to making good on his promise three years ago, after his first ever (and disastrous) volleyball match against Kitadaii’s King of the Court.

“What did you do, dumbass.” _Typical Kageyama_.

“I got subbed for…some guy _who isn’t even a blocker!_ So. I just wanted to give you a heads up, don’tyellatmeplease!” he screws his eyes shut, waiting for Kageyama to berate him, like he usually does.

“…It’s fine. I’m not playing either.” Comes a mumble, almost too soft for Hinata to catch over the phone. _Almost._

 _“WHAT!_ ”

“Stop screeching, dumbass! Oikawa-san is a first string setter now. There’s no way I would’ve been able to play in this match anyway. So. I guess your showdown will have to wait.” Hinata can hear Kageyama’s smile.

“Yeah. I got subbed out because I was too short, though. I just…wish there was something I could do…” He pouts.

Hinata can hear huffed laughter over the phone. Unbelievable. Kageyama was supposed to be his friend.

“Oi. Don’t be a jerk!”

“I’m not, I’m not. I dunno…drink some milk? Exercise?”

One can pinpoint that this is the exact moment when Hinata gets the (arguably) worst idea of his life. He’s going to make himself taller. _Of course_. Why hadn’t he thought of that before?

“OK, Kageyama, I need to go now seeyouloveyou bye!”

“Oi, dumbass, don’t just—“

* * *

Hinata Shouyou is a man on a mission, unstoppable as the stomach jitters he gets before a match. He is out (at 2 am, it must be noted) to buy all the milk at the grocery store two blocks away. He finds only three cartons of full-fat milk (it sounds great, he almost remembers reading something about iron and calcium and bones but he can’t be arsed to make an effort to recall the details). Walking over to the vegetable section (all of which he turns his nose up at) he forces himself to randomly pick out whatever looks green. Asparagus, in particular, looks unappetizing already. His hand skips over the broccoli altogether.

At the check out counter, he notices a _bento_ packed with _onigiri_. _Keiji eats onigiri all the time and they’re really tall, I wonder if…_

He adds the _bento_ to cart and pays and leaves, his heart slightly heavier and his wallet lighter than when he had entered. 

As soon as he reaches home, switches his computer on to continue reading the website he was on. _Sports is a good way to increase height naturally…_ Well, that doesn’t help much since to play the sport he needed to be taller. He reads on. _Sports like swimming are a great example of this!_ Hinata makes a note to talk to the boy in his kinesiology class about swimming. He knows the redhead (what was his name? Mikoshiba?) is on the intercollegiate swim team, and he hopes that Mikoshiba-kun is willing to play lifeguard for Hinata’s short ass.

“You want me to _what_?” Mikoshiba looks confused. “You want me to help you learn how to swim? Why? Aren’t you on the volleyball team?” Hinata isn’t really sure how to answer the volley of questions (it’s not like he can just receive them and call it a day) so he just shrugs and makes up an excuse about wanting to learn how not to drown in case of an emergency visit to the beach.

This idea falls at #4 on _Hinata Shouyou’s list of bad ideas_ just below _eating a heavy breakfast before a big game_ and just above _staying up till 3 am reading up on how to get taller in a week_. He has to rethink his plans now, as he tries to tune out Mikoshiba’s fervent apologies to Akaashi, choosing to focus on Matsukawa instead, who is drying his dripping red hair with a fluffy towel, and reaches out for the hot chocolate (brought to him by their royal chefness, Akaashi Keiji themself).

“I’m sorry” he says to Matsukawa, feeling a little guilty when he sees Akaashi give Mikoshiba a cool stare as they wave away the first-year’s flurry of ‘sorry’s. Matsukawa sighs.

“Seriously, Shou, what were you thinking? You shouldn’t have dived into the deep end like that.”

“Mikoshiba did it, too! I can jump better, I was just…demonstrating.” Hinata realises how utterly stupid he sounds, but he really doesn’t have another excuse.

“You almost drowned! What’s with this swimming, anyway?”

“I was wearing floaties, though…” Hinata trails off as he tries to answer the question posed. Thankfully, Matsukawa seems to have said it in a rhetorical tone, and turns his attention to Akaashi, who looks tired. “Are you OK, Shouyou?” Satisfied when Hinata nods, Akaashi lends him a hand and they walk back to their dorm, Hinata between Matsukawa and Akaashi, holding hands with them. He’s suddenly struck with the feeling short emotion again and they don’t make conversation for the rest of the night. If Matsukawa and Akaashi notice anything out of place, they don’t comment on it.

Hinata eats four of the six _onigiri_ that morning, before practice, along with a glass of milk.

This might replace telling _Bokuto-san about his crush on Akaashi_ and gain #2 position on _Hinata Shouyou’s list of bad ideas_. Practice starts with a rigorous warm up, by the end of which Hinata already feels mildly nauseous.

He misses three spikes in a row because his stomach hurts, and ten minutes before they wrap up, he throws up and falls to the floor. His last thoughts were hey, maybe those rice balls weren’t the freshest and passes out. In the most dramatic way possible, with groans and disgusting noises. (You know the drill).

Matsukawa nearly throws up himself when he carries Hinata to the nurse’s office. When Hinata comes round, the first thing he thinks is: I need to rethink my plan! Again!

Matsukawa looks worried as he touches Hinata’s forehead, and asks him if he’s feeling OK. When he replies in the affirmative, he receives the sweetest forehead kiss, and Matsukawa tells him Akaashi will be in to visit soon. “Stay put, OK? I’ll be back when Keiji leaves.”

Hinata nods, and right after Matsukawa has turned around the corner to go to class, he makes a dash for their apartment. Switching on his laptop, he reads _tying your feet to the bedpost is a good idea so that you don’t curl up on yourself while sleeping_. Hinata borrows five scarves from his boyfriends’ closets (taking care not to upset the pile of binders and T-shirts) and hides them under the mattress. He drinks another glass of milk before making it back to the nurse’s office…

…just in time to greet Akaashi when they walk in. “Hello, Shou, how are you feeling now?”

“Better.”

They go about their usual banter (i.e., Akaashi teasing Hinata, who pouts indignantly) when suddenly Hinata’s face twists, mid-pout.

“Are you OK? Do you need something?” Akaashi looks worried.

“No, I’m goo—“ Hinata throws up. _Again_. Right on Akaashi’s lap. Hinata sniffs and groans, glad he hadn’t passed out, and when he opens his eyes, he wishes he _had_ passed out. The look on Akaashi’s face would’ve been priceless—if Hinata hadn’t been _absolutely terrified._

Calmly, Akaashi takes their leave to visit the changing rooms, and returns fifteen minutes later in training gear. Their face doesn’t reveal any signs of anger, but Hinata is wary. He remembers a couple of weeks ago, Matsukawa had eaten the last chocolate muffin and Akaashi hadn’t talked to him for three days straight. It had been scary.

“Shou, I think you should lie down.” Another sweet forehead kiss. “I’ll send the nurse over, OK? Lie down. I’ll let Issei know.”

Hinata feels a lot guiltier than yesterday, because not only do his plans seem to backfire (did he forget to check the dates on the milk cartons too?) but they’re starting to inconvenience the people he loves most. They probably think he’s super sick when in fact Hinata has just been his dumbass self and forgot to check the expiry dates.

* * *

The nurse wouldn’t let him go without a fuss (the fuss had been on his part, he hadn’t wanted to take pills because he was ‘sick’). Hinata sighs as he trudges back (he’d turned down Matsukawa’s offer to walk him back, if only because Matsukawa had insisted that he stay home for evening practice and rest). The last bit of his plan was looking bleak already. He really does hope the scarves work. He eats the soup Akaashi left next to the stove (again, Akaashi must’ve been some shade of God in their past life because their food was absolutely divine). Hinata picks up the onigiri package and the dates tell him they were freshly made yesterday. The milk isn’t sour either. He throws away the first carton just in case and opens the second, pours himself a glass, and chugs it down with a grimace.

That evening he trudges to his room own instead of Matsukawa’s and flops down, pretending to sleep. He waits until Matsukawa and Akaashi return home, talking in low voices. They come in to see him ‘asleep’, and assume just that. Two kisses and half an hour later, the apartment is dark and Hinata begins tying the scarves around the bedposts and to his limbs. He manages to tie the blue scarf around his right leg and the black one around his right one but tying the red scarf around his right arm is deemed impossible and he goes off to sleep. For real, this time.

…Only to wake up in curled-ball-formation with one leg sticking out at 2 am and a cramp in said leg. Hinata is forced to untie the scarf (nearly tearing it, he’s sure there’s definitely fewer tassels than there were before) before he can go back to sleep peacefully. Or as peacefully as he can until he wakes up an hour later with a stomach ache that makes him feel like literal death.

Both Akaashi and Matsukawa had woken up because Hinata isn’t the quietest person at the best of times, and bumping into furniture a tiny apartment isn’t really helping Hinata’s case at the moment. Not to mention the fact that his digestive tract is trying to empty itself from both ends isn’t the quietest thing to ever happen. Akaashi, being the loving boyfriend that they are, makes him cold lemon juice and sits next to him on the bed once he’s done throwing up. They and Matsukawa stay there until Hinata falls asleep, and if Akaashi spots three of their favourite scarves on the bed, they don’t say anything.

When Hinata gets up, it is arguably the second worst morning in the list of _Hinata Shouyou’s bad mornings_ (the first being the time he got smashed because Matsukawa didn’t know how much he could handle. Akaashi had murdered Matsukawa nine times with their eyes). His gut feels like mush, his brains feel like they’ve turned into fluid and he feels like he’s going to pass out because his stomach _hurts_. 

“Shou, can you sit up?” Akaashi looks really worried and it shoots arrows of guilt into Hinata’s gut. Matsukawa simply lifts him up and carries him out. He hadn’t meant to worry his boyfriends so much, he’d only wanted to get taller, quicker. If a few tears slip out and Matsukawa notices them, he doesn’t say anything.

The doctor takes a few minutes to figure out the cause of his pain and asks the dreaded question, “did you drink large quantities of milk recently?”

Hinata is ashamed (and confused??) to nod his head while Akaashi and Matsukawa look on. “Right, so it seems you have lactose intolerance. You’ve been drinking too much milk in too little time. Give it a rest and you’ll be fine.” The doctor concludes with twinkling eyes and Hinata feels so foolish and he just wants to hind under a bunch of blankets and curl up and die. If Akaashi and Matsukawa notice anything, they don’t voice it.

…Until they reach home. “Shouyou, what were you thinking?! That could’ve been dangerous!”

“Shou, why didn’t you tell us you were lactose intolerant? Was all of that yesterday because you drank milk?”

Hinata is ashamed to admit a carton of milk got the better of him. He hadn't even _known_ about lactose intolerance. After all, he'd watched Kageyama chug milk down like nobody's business and just _assumed_ that's how it worked. He sighs and decides to tell the truth. When he reveals the reason, there is silence.

Hinata screws his eyes shut, bracing himself for a scolding of a lifetime, when he feels two pairs of arms hugging him. Confused, he cracks an eye open and Matsukawa kisses him.

“Shou, you really are an idiot. Did you really think drinking gallons of milk will make you taller in a week?”

“Uh.”

Akaashi ruffles his hair and kisses his cheek. “You know coach didn’t make you sit out because you’re short, Shou. It’s because he knows you play well, but this match is a practice match for the first string players. You dummy, there’s another match the week after for us.”

Hinata, indeed, had glossed over that information.

“Hey, what about me?”

“No kisses because you’re a first string player.”

“ _Keeeiiiijiiiii!_ ” Matsukawa whines and Hinata feels absurdly happy all of a sudden. The knot in his stomach has loosened (but not really, he’s still feeling the wrath of milk) and he feels like he could fly. He’d just assumed that coach thought he was short and assumed that he just needed to get taller to get better.

* * *

Next morning, he apologises to Himekawa-kun, who looked extremely bewildered at his apology but had taken in it good grace nonetheless, and spent a fair amount of time polishing his blocking skills. He manages to block most spikes, wheedles a _pocari sweat_ out of Akaashi and exchanges numbers with Mikoshiba-kun (who is entertainingly terrified of Akaashi and Matsukawa, and Hinata thinks the same of his brother). It’s been a good day in an absurd week.

He goes home, hands tucked in Akaashi’s and Matsukawa’s hoodie pockets and talks about everything under the sun. It’s only when Akaashi serves onigiri for dinner that Hinata suddenly feels himself lose his appetite and if Akaashi and Matsukawa share a sly look, they don’t mention it.


End file.
